► The new Scout electric pick-up
► VW’s new rugged and electric brand
► Our scoop unmasks EV truck plans
The electric revolution is changing the face of the car industry at breakneck speed. The Volkswagen Group is at the forefront of the transformation – and here’s a new ace up its sleeve, the rugged Scout EV brand and its proposed electric pick-up.
Our rendering, by computer artist Andrei Avarvarii, uncovers the battery-powered truck on the drawing board for a 2026 launch. It’s aimed squarely at the likes of the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T: practical, puritanical utility vehicles that remove tailpipe emissions from the great outdoors.
Insiders at the VW Group have given a few details of the spec to whet our appetites: the Scout electric double-cab pick-up blueprint is built around a steel and aluminium monocoque with a dual-motor powertrain providing up to 469bhp of grunt and all-wheel drive to lug serious cargo in its flatbed loadbay.
Scout: reviving a hero brand
The International Harvester Scout (below) was one of the first SUVs – a cult classic in the ’70s and ’80s in North America and a name that still gets respect today. VW Group is reviving the name for a new brand of vehicle: the ‘rugged’ e-SUV and e-pick-up which will be designed, engineered, built and sold entirely in the region.
Revealed: the best electric SUVs
Particularly in North America, the electric truck market is heating up fast. Rivian’s R1T, GMC’s Hummer EV and Ford’s F-150 Lightning are already on sale and, if Tesla pulls its finger out, the Cybertruck could be another contender.
VW thinks it can stop the American brands having the market to themselves by acting now.
Why Scout will launch an electric pick-up and SUV
The Scout EV brand, led by former VW North America head Scott Keogh, plans to include an SUV (codenamed SC416) as well as the pick-up truck (SC417).
The aim is to use the new PPE platform (above) that’ll be used in the coming years across myriad VW Group brands and products to make the initiative more cost-efficient.
Audi boss Markus Duesmann has pondered ‘a bulletproof zero-emission premium pick-up tailor-made for the great outdoors.’ Audi partnering up with Scout would make the business case for such a model stack up. Audi’s version could take a visual lead from the RS Q e-Tron Dakar racer and command a price premium over the Scout.
Electric car reviews by CAR magazine